FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – An IT outage created major headaches for travelers in Fort Lauderdale on Saturday.
Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport tweeted reports of an IT outage impacting security screening and other airport systems in Terminal 1.
Long lines of passengers stretched across the terminal as they waited to get through TSA.
Local 10 News spoke to a traveler who said she waited several hours so she could board her flight.
“My flight was at 5:10,” said Neemina Kabre. “Now, it’s 5:25. I don’t know when it’s finally going to take off.”
Another FLL passenger Reginald Lewis told Local 10 News’ Annaliese Garcia that he was traveling to Canada and was hoping things get sorted out.
“We’re just waiting, waiting. Hopefully, the gates open up and we can make our way to Buffalo and then Canada,” Lewis said.
Beth Long told Local 10 News that there was a lot of confusion during the early hours as to where people should stand while waiting.
“So we are headed out to Denver and got here at about 3 and once we got our bags checked, we went to get in line for TSA and the line went all the way out the building and outside,” she said. “Nobody really knew what was going on. It’s just been growing and growing because now you have the 5, 7, and 8 o’clock flights.”
The airport said Saturday morning it was working to get its IT issue fixed to ensure all travelers get to their destinations.
.#FLL has experienced an IT outage this morning that is impacting security screening & other airport systems in Terminal 1. Our team is working diligently to ensure that all systems are back up soon. We thank you for your patience while we work to resolve this issue.
— Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood Int'l Airport (FLL) (@FLLFlyer) December 31, 2022
IT Outage Update: Some systems are back up & resuming operations at #FLL in Terminal 1 after the airport experienced an IT outage this morning. Our team continues to work on the remaining issues to return all systems to normal operations asap. Thank you all for your patience.
— Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood Int'l Airport (FLL) (@FLLFlyer) December 31, 2022
After more than three hours, the IT issues were resolved and the lines started moving. But with the unexpected setbacks, Local 10 News’ cameras spotted the departure boards with more than a half dozen delayed flights.
Passengers like Carlos Cortada are doing their best to keep their spirits up despite having travel troubles.
“The most important thing is that the family is together and enjoy the time,” he said.
The airlines that took the brunt of the mess were United and Southwest.
Airport officials are urging travelers to arrive to their flights three to three and a half hours early and to always check in with their airline to make sure their flight is on time.